Letters to a Dress

1 October 2017

THE LADIES EMPORIUM GETS NEW STOCK

FRESH IN FOR OCTOBER.....

The latest additions to The Ladies Emporium display at Henfield Museum have arrived.

Edwardian evening or wedding shoes.

They are resplendent in pewter silk brocade with a louis heel and decorative rosette.

The rosette has a cut steel detail that adds a little sparkle.

Finished inside with white kid, they are unmarked as to a maker.

Time has taken its toll on the fabric , but the leather soles and heels are ready for their next walk.

They are almost as lovely as the dancing shoes in grey suede with silver sequins already in the case. So have a look at my previous post about the Emporium on this blog and take a look at the dancing shoes and the other delights available in THE LADIES EMPORIUM

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24 September 2017

CHRISTIAN DIOR ET GRANVILLE

CHRISTIAN DIOR ET GRANVILLE

‘Aux Sources De La Légende’

Now open until 7^th January 2018

Musée Christian Dior

Villa Les Rhumbs

50400 Granville

France

www.musee-dior-granville.com

Many museums have close links with their subject matter. Few museums can have such close an association with its ‘name’ as the Musée Christian Dior. For the villa housing the museum, Les Rhumbs, was where M. Dior spent his early years.

As part of the celebrations for the 70^th year of the Dior fashion house, this exhibition reveals how Granville and the Dior family home influenced and shaped M. Diors thinking and career.

The clothes on display are magnificent and beautifully set out. Each case is imaginatively set and the information boards are full of detail. The museum supplies excellent non French language notes, so you don’t have to miss a thing.As well as the garments themselves the exhibition enables you to discover what the rooms of the house were used for when the Dior family lived there. I have been to many exhibits here, but this added a dimension to the experience for me. Knowing you were in the dining room or that this room was Christian Dior’s bedroom was delightful.I enjoyed finding out snippets from the past… discovering ‘Miss Dior’ perfume was named after Catherine Dior, Christians younger sister. Reading that the pink and grey colours that figure in Dior history stem from the pink painted house and the grey gravel garden paths. Finding out that M. Dior ‘fell in love ‘with British food and enjoyed a full English and mince pies (though not simultaneously I trust.) It is all background and explanation and the sort of historical detail that is very satisfying to know. As an example of the meticulous and stylish way these exhibitions are managed, one case held a pink day dress from CD’s New York collection S/S1957 and a grey dress from A/W 1951’s Haute Couture. Both perfect examples of the signature colours and as the final touch, the pink dress had a grey card with its details and the grey a pink. A small thing, but very pleasing.

The clothes shown were a mixture of early Dior and later designers who carried the torch onwards. Marc Bohan…Raf Simons …both had their day. There was too much of Galliano there I felt. His clothes are so OTT and theatrical as to jar against the style and flair of the other designers.

I enjoyed my visit tremendously. Do go if you can…the gardens are (almost) worth the trip alone.

La Villa Les Rhumbs c1920 & present day.
LHS ©Musée Christian Dior.RHS Collection Ville de Granville ©Benoit Croisy.

17 September 2017

A Museum In A Shirt Factory. Un Musée Dans Une Usine De Chemises.

Musée de la Chemiserie

Argenton-sur-Creuse

Indre. France

http://www.museedelachemiserie.fr

Shirts in colour and shirts in white

Colourful cufflinks and collars in a box.

The museum of shirts has certainly got shirts, but it also has cufflinks and collars, waistcoats and dressing gowns.

To give it its full title ‘Musee de la Chemiserie et de l’élégance masculine’ (or the Museum of shirt making and masculin elegance if you prefer) is a gem. Single themed museums can be a little specialist, focused if you will, but they can also introduce you to ideas and styles and images that you have missed,

The museum building is a former shirt factory and is large and light and airy.

There are temporary and permanent exhibitions.

Up to the permanent exhibition first.

17thcentury

First you see the white billowing shirts associated with cavaliers and cads.

Then into a beautifully laid out gallery, which gives the impression of a gentleman’s club. Notices are in English and French, ensuring you get all the details.

The story of the shirt and its place in society plays out case by case. White shirts, collarless shirts. Colourful shirts.

And a few curios like the shirt worn by Frank Sinatra, designed with a panel from the back buttoning at the front to make sure his shirt stayed neatly tucked in when he was on stage.

There are work shirts and sport shirts and military too, contextualised with notes, ties, and original packaging.

Collarless shirts and collars to go with them abound. A few waistcoats have their place, as does mention of personal hygiene and bathing habits.

Pleasing to note that laundry was sent by to England by the rich in the 1900s. England was considered to be the only country that had the secret of perfect laundering and starching.

My favourite part was the cufflinks.

The case of 1970s cufflinks speaks volumes about taste in the 70s, not to mention how strong shirt wearers arms where.

Much use is made to very great effect of contemporary publicity materials. From a gorgeous art deco green shirt advertising prop to a Don Draperesque crisp white shirt and tie shop fitting.

There is a marvellous recreated workroom you can walk round, describing daily life in the factories.Sadly it also details how the shirt industry has shrunk. During the Belle Époque (1871-1914), described as the golden age of the shirt factories in the region, 3000 workers were employed in various workshops; by the 1960s 17 workshops employed 1200 machinists. They made for Dior and Pierre Cardin amongst others. No wonder Argenton was known as ‘La Cité de la Chemise’….’The City of the Shirt’.

The temporary exhibition at the moment is about dressing gowns. It is charmingly entitled ‘Home Sweet Home, Cocooning au masculin’, which is a lovely title what ever language you speak.

Well worth a visit to this and to the whole museum.

With grateful thanks to the Museum and to the Curator Mme Nathalie Gaillard.

Merci Mme Gaillard. Votre musée est splendide et très intéressant. J'espère que quiconque lira ce blog pensera à visiter le musée un jour. Merci gracieusement.

0917

10 August 2017

THE LADIES EMPORIUM

One glass case, some vintage underpinnings, assorted haberdashery and a dash of nostalgia gives you THE LADIES EMPORIUM at HENFIELD MUSEUM.

The Ladies Emporium

I have gathered together a miscellany from Henfields stock that says Drapers Window to me. A drapers with a difference. A drapers window that mixes not just garments but swirls in a bit of time travel too.

There are some lace trimmed Victorian unmentionables and a pair of drawers from the 1940s. A Victorian black lace and taffeta yoked cape.

An Edwardian nightgown, ladies combinations and assorted silk stockings. Shoes from the 1920s. Hat pins from the 1940s . Long steel hat pins with military buttons forming the top. Lace still on its original card from Tobitts Drapers and a hat brush with ‘Tobitts’ stamped on the handle. This shop was trading in Henfield from 1858 until the last family member died in 1953. Between 1909 and 1913 Henfield had another drapers and outfitters, ‘Cordery Brothers’. In the case are two pieces of their brown wrapping paper emblazoned with the shop address.

The exquisite detail that home seamstresses sewed into their work stands out in the details on the Victorian and Edwardian underwear and nightgown. There is handmade lace, pin tucks, white work and broderie anglaise. One pair of ladies combinations was made by a Miss Tobitt from the Tobitt Drapers family. They formed part of her trousseau. A trousseau that was never worn. I don’t know why.

In the right hand corner there’s a faded paisley shawl from 1860 that was worn to a wedding, and in the left corner….I couldn’t have a display with out a dress. So a beautiful mauve satin dress is displayed in all its beaded glory. An Edwardian evening gown, the elbow length sleeves are split along their length and gathered together by velvet bands. Gold beads form fringing at the hem and brilliants wind through the beads to create sparkling panels of embroidery.

So here is my interpretation of a drapers window. Enormous fun to do and a real pleasure to be had in showing off some of the smaller pieces in Henfields collection.

Incidentally, if you look, the mauve evening gown is priced at a very reasonable Sale Price of 6/11. This dream bargain is courtesy of a sign from Tobitts Drapers that was found when their old premises were being refurbished. 35p is a bit of a snip…..

21 June 2017

Beau Musée Bowes

Its not often you go to a costume exhibition and come out raving about the transparent thermoplastic mannequins.

But that is what happened after my visit to the Bowes Museum in County Durham.

Their costume and textile displays have see through acrylic mannequins and innovative peninsula cases, so you can see inside and through and the back of the clothes. What a difference this makes. Seeing something in the round gives a much better picture of a costume. No longer do you have to trade the detail of the back for the detail of the front or vice versa. And you can step back and see the costume from all angles at a distance. This excellent system was developed by Bowes and is now being copied by other museums. I believe that the inspiration for this layout was based on clothes shops in Bond Street in London. Where ever it came from it is a triumph.

The clothes displayed are arranged chronologically to guide you through the display. A walk through time as it were.

Having by good fortune visited on Bowes 125^th anniversary, not only was admission a snip at £2.50, but there was a programme of talks, tours and music on that day as well. So it was that I had the pleasure of meeting Hannah Jackson, Assistant Curator of Fashion and Textiles, who gave a talk in the fashion gallery about the exhibits (just 2% of their collection is on show) and shared with us her favourite items.

Curators choice.1858-1860 Paletot and carriage boots
which belonged to Empress Eugenie

Here’s a selection of my favourites.

1815-1820 Scottish Whitework

Day Bodice 1857-1860

1863

1880

1919-1920

1932

Utility blouse 1941-8

1964 Jean Varon (John Bates)

c1965

I often just walk through a museum to get to the costumes and walk straight out afterwards. At Bowes you cant do that. I was drawn into rooms filled with furniture and paintings and curios and porcelain and a very clever, very famous silver swan. Case after case full of exquisite things. Yes I know that all (most?) museums are like that, but Bowes is really special. Light airy rooms, quiet nooks with chairs, a wealth of marble staircases, wooden floors and a great sense of space.

And there is still another story to tell from Bowes…the history of Joséphine Bowes and her husband John. The tale of his enormous wealth, a life in Paris, meeting an actress, their love story, a marriage and a zeal for collecting that all came together with their great vision for a museum. All this is beautifully depicted and described within the museum, along with some eye watering bills from Worth in Paris ‘ 1^st June 1872, Bill for Mme Bowes’ ‘Dress in gauze and lace, Scarf in white crêpe de chine and Valenciennes lace’ etc etc, to a total of 11,184.00 Francs. (£36k today)

Tying the two areas of costume and founders together is a replica of a dress worn by Joséphine Bowes, taken from her portrait and meticulously recreated by Luca Costigliolo. A video of its construction shows in the costume space.

Bowes is exceptional. I have wanted to visit this museum for years.

It did not disappoint.

FROCK TALES

MAR
19

Frock Tales: Clues and Questions in Costume.

I have long been a proponent for social network’s potential in sharing knowledge, and creating unlikely connections between individuals simply through pursuing the same passions. This is especially true of my recent trip to Henfield Museum to attend a talk on dress history.

The trip came about through a chance correspondence in Facebook group Fashion Historians Unite! (wonderful place, highly recommend a browse!) where costume curator of Henfield Museum, Stephanie Richards, regularly shares brilliant images of the garments kept in their archive. Through an exchange of messages, Stephanie kindly offered to host a talk especially to share the lesser-known collection with University of Brighton students.

Simultaneously, I was thrilled and anxious. I love clothes (especially the old ones!) and cherish opportunities to see archival pieces. However, as a typically disorganised person, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat inept at the prospect of organising a group trip. As a Masters student, I don’t see students on other pathways as often, so I had no way of knowing who else would be up for it. After postering the campus, sharing around social media, and a determined word-of-mouth campaign among students and staff, a group emerged who shared my enthusiasm. The attendees from Brighton were a mix of friends, strangers; young coursemates and senior staff. Finally, after weeks of arranging, we were boarding a rickety minibus to get to Henfield.

Costume curator Stephanie Richards handling dress artefacts
As we arrived into the village hall, the room was already bustling with an eager audience gazing over the intriguing spread of garments presented across the front. Stephanie began the talk by quoting Mason Cooley; that “Clothes make a statement, costume tells a story…”, an aphorism which set the tone for the evening. Entitled “Frock Tales: Clues and Questions in Costume”, Stephanie’s talk guided us through some of the gems kept in the Henfield archives. She advised to always approach artefacts with a questioning eye, only then could the stories held between the seams be unravelled.

The collection stems from a small social history exhibition in the 1930s which expanded over time, all the while reflecting the village’s individual character. The pieces in the Museum generally all have some link to Henfield and/or the people who lived there. Particularly within smaller collections, the value of oral testimony is vital to illuminate an object’s relevance. From anecdotal experiences of New Look-styles to in-depth recounts of tragic life-histories illustrated through dress, the tales told all affirmed clothing’s oft overlooked function as readable documents of the past. Clothes are worn by everyone (in polite society), travel across time and locations, and crucially know the most intimate details of an individual. As Stephanie observes, clothes are more than just coverings, they are snippets of their owner’s life.

There are some spectacular items in the collection; a surprisingly sturdy 1860’s crinoline, 1940s parachute-silk shirts, a c1870-80s two-piece dress with patented sweatguards in the bodice armpits, and a beautifully beaded 1920s flapper dress which weighed two kilos! Wherever possible, the stories behind the owners of each garment were meticulously researched, and were equally as compelling as each sartorial detail. In some cases, Stephanie had traced items to the actual stores they were bought, I certainly agree with her observation that finding a maker’s label is like hitting the dress historian jackpot! One example was an exquisite black taffeta 1880s mantle from Brighton department store Hannington’s (though she mentioned that the royal warranted retailer has been mis-catalogued as ‘Harrington’s’) In other cases she retold the life-stories of the wearers, uncovering many remarkable, salacious, and uplifting details of the people once adorned by the surviving pieces.

Mystery dress!

The evening was not without some unsolved mysteries (I'm sure many of us love playing dress detective!) as a plain brown, mostly handsewn dress with medieval-styled sleeves and ruching was curiously embellished with some awfully fancy gold beading. At first glance it appears reminiscent of the Arts & Crafts styles, though it was not the work of the Omega group, and could possibly be theatrical dress or for a pageant? One of my personal obsessions within historic garments is evidence of alteration and re-making, so I was thrilled to see pieces showing evidence of theatrical additions or alteration to their original forms; further nuances within the tales told by dresses.

The most unexpectedly rewarding aspects of the talk was that it was also open to the friends of the Henfield Museum, who kindly provided refreshments for us all. It was such a fantastic experience for all of the Brighton lot to mix with the community. The evening was a true meeting of minds, as budding-historian students chatted with local-history buffs and dress historians could come together cast their eye over puzzling pieces. Many of the locals had not seen these pieces before either so we were all similarly amazed together, and the entire audience left inspired and in high-spirits. We are all extremely thankful to the FOHM for being so accommodating, and to Stephanie for putting together such an inspiring look into the artefact-based approach of a dress historian. After weeks of online correspondence, it was wonderful to meet a likeminded researcher in person!

http://sarahmarygeissler.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/frock-tales-clues-and-questions-in.html
Sarah-Mary Geissler

A Stitch In Time. Part Three. 1860

Previously in a Stitch in Time

In 1815 Amelia was marking time until Ralph returned from the battle of Waterloo.

They married in a joyous ceremony after his safe return.

In time they were blessed with a son.

But as the years passed, the happy ending got less and less happy.

Now read on…..

Ivywell House

Sussex

August 1860

Dear Florence,

The most extraordinary thing has happened. It would not be out of place in a penny dreadful. No, I shall not tell you straight away, as I have to confess to being more than a little vexed with you. You are my dear sister. But please stop trying to persuade me that I shall enjoy the ball tomorrow. I realise Colonel and Mrs Bell are old friends of mama and papa and our family have been their guests before. I am aware that most young ladies, as you have it, enjoy balls and dancing. Well dear Flo, I am most certainly not of their number. I am more interested in my studies than frivolous dances. Besides. You forget I am twenty years of age. Far too old to be engaged by thoughts of waltzes and polkas.In your position as wife to a busy cleric and mother to a darling brood of cherubs (as mama refers to them when speaking to her friends) you simply cannot comprehend how I much prefer to be left to my books.

Daily life continues as ever. The young ladies of Ivywell School (our home as I prefer to think of it.) remain a constant presence. There are always classes in full flow somewhere in the house. Papa enjoys the geography and mathematics tuition. Mama manages literature and penmanship as efficiently as always. The French master is here once a week and continues to try and push ‘langue et littérature’ into various ringletted heads. Most seem content to be able to mutter ‘Oui’ and ‘Non’ and practise their curtseys to Monsieur. I know there is no money to spare and the pupils are necessary, but our parents work so hard making trying to make polished ladies out of these silly girls.

And now to the extraordinary thing. after breakfast I was summoned to Grandmamas room. she made it plain that she agrees with you over the ball, I am to go. No argument permitted. I demurred, protesting that I had not a gown or shoes fine enough. She directed me to her dressing room and bid me look at the portrait of our great great grandmother Sophia painted a hundred years ago.( It is the very pretty lady in a red and gold brocade gown and lots of diamonds.)

Then she told me the following. After her husband, our Grandfather Ralph, was killed in a duel, the family fortune was decimated by his gambling debts. Her sole desire was to safeguard Ivywell for papa to inherit. Sadly Grandfathers profligate life had robbed her of any illusions as to the eventual fate of her family money. Carefully and over time, preparations had been made. So when she was widowed her first task was to reclaim a trunk she had hidden in the nursery linen cupboard. This held not only the dress in the portrait, but Sophia’s diamond studded shoe buckles and some other jewels. The sale of the jewellery saved the house with a little left over. If this was not startling enough, she suggests I use some of the fine red and gold brocade from the dress to fashion myself a sash and so refresh my old ball gown. Also there is enough lace left on the dress to sew a reticule for me to carry. She further confided that her bridal gown had been fashioned in part from material from this ancient dress. I am almost lost for words. ! (But not quite.)Even I find myself intrigued by this notion and there is no doubt that my ball gown is sadly dingy. I have not worn it since your wedding. Tonight I shall remove the trimmings I sported on that happiest of days (remember the artificial violets I had to match yours?) and set about making the sash and reticule.My best white gloves have a darn, but my satin pumps have no really dark stains. Mama’s lace fan will go to another ball and I shall wear a rose in my hair from the garden and trust to detract from my shabbiness by engaging people in intelligent conversation. So, there we are. I shall go to the ball. But I won’t enjoy it.

I’ll seal this missive after the event, so I may confirm my low expectations.

Grandmamma sends her love.

Your loving sister Clara xx

PS Oh Flo I am writing this after the ball.It is very very late and I have so much to tell you.The ball was the most wonderful evening of my life. As I was hiding in the Winter Garden (so as not to have to dance), I met the son of the house, Frederick Bell. We never met him as children. He has been away at school and then abroad because he is delicate. He too was taking refuge in the winter garden and so we talked and talked about Mr Dickens and his stories. And art and sculpture. Freddy has been to Rome and Paris. He wants to be a historian and has plans to write a work on architecture. And he says he believes that girls may study as well as any man.I never knew one could talk to men and they would talk back as if you were an equal.The only cloud is that as sole heir his father wishes him to confine his studies to taking over the family business empire.But oh oh oh I cannot think of that now. His eyes are the darkest green I have ever seen and his moustache so suits his noble face…

You were right my darling sister. I did enjoy the ball, perhaps not in the way you thought, but I feel that I have met my life’s soul mate.

Clara xxxx

Next time join IMOGEN in 1910. A new century.

Discover how Clara and her green eyed swain arranged their futures.

Read how a fiery family spirit can miss a generation or two, but it will out one day.

Find out what life in a new century was like for women. Better? Worse? Or the same?